Bristol City will head into Saturday’s play-off contending clash with Middlesbrough in the hope that Tony Pulis’ side will continue their rotten form against fellow play-off rivals.

This season has seen Middlesbrough fail to beat any of the current top six – picking up just two points from a possible 24.

Tony Pulis’ north-east side have been beaten twice in the league by both Wolverhampton Wanderers and Cardiff this season. While a loss and draw to both Fulham and Aston Villa continued extremely poor results against the league’s top sides.

With an estimated £50 million spent on transfers in the summer and January transfer windows, the fans in the north-east will be bitterly disappointed with such a poor record against sides that they would be hoping to challenge with.

Perhaps most important, though, is the north-east side’s results against their fellow play-off chasing rivals. On Tuesday night, Middlesbrough lost 2-1 to Sheffield United at Bramhall Lane. The results saw Boro fall out of the play-off places and let in-form Millwall take the elusive 6th place for the time being.

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What might give Bristol City hope heading into Saturday’s fixture is the fact that Middlesbrough have lost to Millwall, Sheffield United and City themselves at least once over the course of the season.

The head-to-head form of Middlesbrough against play-off rivals will give Bristol City head coach Lee Johnson much hope ahead of Saturday’s game.

Indeed, Boro have great attacking threat with the likes of Patrick Bamford, Adama Traoré et al. which shows they could conjure up a good performance.

With Boro averaging 2.38 goals a game, City should still be wary of their attacking strength.

Boro currently sit just two points outside of the play-off places with four games to play. And, with the pragmatic Tony Pulis in charge, they will be hopeful of turning around their season’s poor form in big matches.

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Nevertheless, Pulis has guided his side to four defeats against Wolves, Fulham, Cardiff and Aston Villa – losing each game by a one goal margin.

The ex-Bristol City manager will be eager to turn around such poor form when he faces the side he managed for less than a year during the 1999/2000 campaign.

The one-goal deficit in each of those fixtures perhaps shows the type of game that Bristol City might face on Saturday.

The Robins will be expecting a tight game on Saturday against a hard-working and pragmatic side – something symptomatic of sides managed by Tony Pulis.

With essentially four centre-halves across the back four, City will have to break down a resilient defence. Saying that, Pulis’ side are with just one clean sheet since March 6th, much unlike any Tony Pulis side of the past.